Both men are now in MotoGP retirement - but while Rossi shone with seven championships in the pr💦em♏ier class, the title always eluded Pedrosa.

The Spaniard was a three-time runner-up during his Honda ꦿheyday but could never pip the likes of Rossi to the top prize.

“The strategy Rossi used wasn’t being the fastest, which was 🦂my mentality, for example,” Pedrosa told DAZN. 

“His was: ‘✨I’ll go and, if I can slow him down, I’ll slow him down.’ 

“He would 🅺block you until you got agitated and made mistakes. He did it with Casey Stoner and very often with me. It took me a long time to change my🌌 strategy.

“He was preparin🏅g the bike to brake late. He’d fix the forks, start braking with an open throttle, and do it a little later than the others. 

“For example, at Montmelo in 2009, it was impossible to꧋ overtake him in braking, because he was braking 15 metres after the others.”

Pedrosa brough😼t his own career to an end four years ago. He was a three-time world champion (once in 125cc, twice in 250cc). He won 31 MotoGP races and is the most suc💜cessful rider of all time in the premier class to never win the title.

Now a KTM test rider, he said about retiring: “It’s something that knocks on the door, little by little🌳. Or▨, at least, that’s what happened to me.

“Suddenly, you have a fee𒊎ling one day, but you keep going. Then, a lot later, another call cꦯomes that you refuse. Then these calls become more and more constant.

“Until the time comes when you say ‘enough’. I had an accident once with another rider, and I had to have hand surgery. I was in the hospital. I woke up after the operation𒊎, and I t🃏old my parents, ‘It’s over’. 

“I didn’t want to be in the hospital every day, and tha🌳t pushed me to reach the decision more seriously.”